


Corn Mazes and Cider

by ThePotterWatcher



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fremione - Freeform, Prompt Fic, fairy safe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-22 10:37:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21300674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePotterWatcher/pseuds/ThePotterWatcher
Summary: Prompt: Hermione shows her favorite Weasley what fall is really about - muggle styleJust a sweet little holiday for Fred and Hermione.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Fred Weasley
Comments: 12
Kudos: 65
Collections: Pumpkin & Ginger Fall Fest





	Corn Mazes and Cider

The smell of pork roast permeated throughout the small kitchen of Hermione Granger's small flat as she hummed quietly to herself. With just a few minutes until it was set to come out of the oven, Hermione flicked her wand just the way Molly had shown her and a pair of knives began chopping the ingredients for the salad. Hermione watched with a proud smile as the lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers arced gracefully into the bowl sitting ready on the countertop. A quick glance at the clock and she waved her wand once again, this time uncorking the bottle of elven wine Molly had told her would pair nicely with the roast. Her smile brightened as the roar of her fireplace grew indicating the floo had been activated.

"Honey, I'm home," Fred's voice called from the other room and she could hear the shuffling as he made his way to the kitchen. "Merlin, it smells fantastic in here."

"Thank you," Hermione said, walking to where he stood just inside the doorway and kissed him hello.

"Thursday's really are my favorite nights, you know that?" Fred said as he walked to the table and poured the wine into their glasses.

"Am I really that horrible of a cook?" Hermione asked.

"I'm afraid so, love, but seeing as you're so bloody brilliant at every single other thing I was willing to overlook it. Can't say I'm not right chuffed you took Mum up on cooking lessons, though."

"Thank you for that," Hermione deadpanned.

She took the roast from the oven and finished setting the table while Fred settled into his chair. Hermione took a moment to look him over, there were dark circles under his eyes and his hair looked as if he'd been running his fingers through it for hours. She watched as he stifled a yawn while rolling up his shirt sleeves and knew she'd made the right choice. Now she just needed to convince him of it.

"So, have you heard from Mr. Zonko yet?" She asked putting a plate of food in front of him.

"No, the old codger hasn't said a peep since we made the presentation."

"Well, you and George are the obvious choice to take over his shop, he hasn't got any children and you are doing so well in Diagon Alley. I think hes just giving you a bit of payback for when you two were at Hogwarts."

"Payback? We were his best customers. This is wonderful by the way," Fred said gesturing to his plate.

"Thank you. Anyway, I don't think you ought to worry so much about it. It'll work out, and if it doesn't then you can always find somewhere better to open another shop. Near one of the other schools maybe."

"I suppose so, I just really want this deal to go through. I haven't had a decent night's sleep in a month."

"I'm well aware, every night you stay over you wake me up with your muttering," Hermione said, smiling and rubbing his leg with her foot.

"Sorry love, I'll try to be quieter."

"I'm not upset, I just hate to see you so worked up. Which is why I've done something."

"Something? Something what?" Fred asked, a look of concern on his face.

"It's nothing bad I promise. I just thought we could use a weekend away."

"Oh Hermione, I don't think now is a good time for that. I've just got so much work to do, and haven't you got that bill ready to pass soon?"

"I talked to George, he said Lee was coming into town next weekend and would be happy to help out and I still have weeks to work on the bill. I've nearly finished all the research anyway. We've never gone on holiday together."

"When you put it like that… Where were you thinking of going?"

"Well my uncle has a large farm in the country and they have cottages for rent on the property. As it happens, they put together a large corn maze every year and he said that he would love to have us. I guess they are trying something new with the corn maze this year and he offered to let us go through it before it opens to the public and let him know what we thought."

"You want to go out to the country and walk around in a corn maze?" Fred asked incredulously.

"You don't think it sounds like fun? There's more than just the maze, they have a large orchard and I used to go out there every autumn with my parents, before I started at Hogwarts. I just-"

"Hermione, calm down," Fred said laughing quietly. "I think it sounds like a great time, I just didn't think that you would. Ever since 'The Great Camping Trip' you haven't been one for outdoorsy type things."

"Oh well, perhaps not. There is quite a difference though, that was a ‘never ending, running for our lives, living in a cold leaking tent with Harry and Ron’ situation. This would be a ‘nice comfortable cottage with a fireplace, plenty of food and most importantly, you’ situation," Hermione explained, a mischievous smile spreading over her face.

"I can see the distinction," Fred smiled back and pulled her chair closer to him. He pulled her into his lap for a heated kiss.

"Let me clean this up," Hermione muttered between kisses, "and I'll show you some of my other plans for next weekend."

"Anything you say, love."

"Go sit on the sofa, I'll be right there."

Fred kissed for just a moment longer before nodding his head and doing as she asked.

Hermione came out of the kitchen a few minutes later with two fresh glasses of wine. When she got to the sofa she chuckled softly and set down the wine glasses. She pulled the blanket off the chair as well as a book and settled next to Fred who was snoring lightly, his shirt half unbuttoned.

***

“Wait, you never said no magic,” Fred said as they pulled off the main road onto a long winding gravel road.

“I’m sure I must’ve. It's just up here at the end of the road. Will that be a problem? George said it would be, said you’d never make the whole weekend with no magic. I disagreed of course. Said ‘Fred is brilliant, he will do wonderfully living as a muggle for three short days’. I suppose he really does know you better than I do. I’m sorry, it isn’t too late to cancel,” Hermione said looking out the window.

“Of course I can make it three days as a muggle, just would’ve been nice to know about it before hand is all. George is a prat, never listen to a word he says.”

“I really did think I'd told you, I am sorry for that. I just thought it would be so much fun to show you all the things I did as a girl. Autumn is my very favorite time of year and as wonderful as magic is there's just something about picking apples by hand and turning them into cider or a pie. Don't worry, I always leave the actual pie baking to Aunt Ally. There it is!”

“Love,” Fred said putting the car in park and grabbing her hand as she bounced a little in her seat. “I would do anything for you. I think you and I will do an excellent job of pick apples and baking pies and anything else you'd like to do this weekend. Here I’ll put my wand here and won't think of it again.”

Fred opened the glove box and started laughing. He pulled out a several mobile phones, a home printer, an old radio and more than a few old spark plugs.

“Molly hasn't been in this car has she?” Hermione asked shaking her head and laughing.

“No, I think after the Anglia she's sworn off anything Dad brings home anymore. Bloody hell how much rubbish does he have in this box? There's an obvious extension charm but I can't find the end of this thing.”

“You've found his stash, put it all back. Anyway, I don't like the idea of having my wand so far away, here just put them in my bag and we'll find a place in the cottage for them.”

***

"Well, I'm fairly certain we won't run into any cursed Bulgarians or giant Sphinxes in there, but it looks like a good time, yeah?" Fred asked the next morning as they looked up at the tall stalks of corn.

"How clever, the maze is cut in the shape of an apple tree, see. I'm so excited!" Hermione said with a large smile on her face. She held out the map to Fred, but he just set it back in the display on the table near the entrance.

"More fun without a map, love," he told her with a wink.

"More fun my foot," Hermione muttered under her breath as Fred turned to talk to her uncle. She grabbed the map back and put it quickly in her pocket.

"So, like I said before we're doing something a bit different this year. There's a bit of a scavenger hunt in the maze this year. At different points of the maze we have boxes set up with these," Hermione's uncle Noah told them and held up a palm sized red token. "All the boxes have different colored tokens and if you collect all 10 colors you get free tickets for the hayride up to the orchard for apple picking and a small bottle of cider."

"What a wonderful idea," Hermione said.

"The idea is to encourage a bit of spending on some of Ally's pastries and larger ciders to take home," Uncle Noah said with a wink. "Alright, off with you then. Go explore."

Hermione laughed softly as she accepted Freds waiting hand and they entered the maze. They started off at a leisurely pace walking close in the narrow path stealing kisses frequently.

"Alright fearless leader, left or right?" Fred asked as they came to a fork in the path.

"Hmmm… left?"

"Works for me. I can't help but think about the TriWizard Tournament in this thing. It sounds absolutely horrible, but I'd never been more relieved to have a potion not work as when I saw Diggory that night," Fred said, looking pointedly at the ground.

"Believe it or not, that's probably the third thing I thought once I realized what had happened," Hermione told him, squeezing his hand. "First I thought 'thank God Harry's okay' then I knew it meant Voldemort was back, then I thought it could have been you, or George."

"Knew you loved me way back then, did you?" Fred asked with a wink.

"Not really, no. I just knew that it would be a bloody tragedy if you weren't around anymore. It took years and years of your convincing for me to fall for you."

"It took years and years for you to believe I was serious."

"Well, you can hardly blame me. You have a very well deserved reputation."

"True enough," Fred said as he pointed to the right at the next fork.

"I still can't believe you sent me a howler every week for 6 months, it's a wonder I didn't get fired."

"Nah, I talked it over with your boss before I started."

"What?" Hermione stopped short to stare up at him for a moment before he gently pushed her forward again.

"Yeah, took him to lunch. Told him I planned to woo you. Asked how upset he would get with minor disruptions every Tuesday afternoon. Turns out he’s got a bit of a prankster’s heart and told me to send anything that wouldn't stop you from doing your work."

"I don't even have words l…"

"Oh I doubt that..”

"Funny.”

"You find me irresistible and you know it.”

"That's hardly the point. Oh look the first box.” Hermione walked to a post about hip high with a plain wooden box fixed to the top, she opened the box and pulled out a deep blue colored token. She slipped it into a small pouch she;d collected from the map table.

“Excellent, so how’s the bill going?” Fred asked as they continued making their way through the maze picking directions at random.

“Very well actually, I think Remus would be pleased. There's so much red tape though. We finally got the wording right I believe. Basically as long as they can prove they have been taking the wolfsbane potion consistently and they have never harmed a human in their wolf state no employers can deny employment based on one being a werewolf. The fact that wolfsbane is now so widely available has made it tremendously simpler.”

“Right, we have more than a few regulars every month who buy from us. I heard Minnie added it to the syllabus for 7th year.”

“Yes, that was actually Harry’s idea. Brilliant isn't it?” They came to another box and Hermione slipped the orange token into her bag.

“Boy wonder at it again,” Fred smiled happily.

“He hates when you and George call him that.”

“Why do you think we do it so often? Just because he finished Ol’ Voldy off doesn't mean he can marry our little sister then proceed to knock her up with no repercussions.”

“You're ridiculous. Harry has been a part of your family since he was 12 years old.”

“That’s hardly the point.” Fred shrugged as he put an arm around Hermione’s shoulders. “We stopped pranking him didn't we?”

“Only because Ginny threatened you so harshly. Really pranking anything that could be used by her accidently was just sloppy.”

“How were we supposed to know she took to wearing his old quidditch jersey now that she's so big?”

“I wear your old jersey all the time, you prat,” Hermione said with a laugh.

“Fair point, you're right it was sloppy. But I don't spend much time thinking about them in any situation that she would be wearing his clothes.”

“You do know where babies come from don't you?”

“LA LA LA I can't hear you! Sweet little baby Ginny is as pure as snow and will be for the rest of my life. You can't convince me otherwise.”

“Of course,” Hermione said rolling her eyes dramatically, deciding not to burst that particular bubble for him. “Speaking of, your mum cornered me again the other day. Wanted to make sure this holiday wasn't really some plot to run off and elope.”

“She's mental, really. I thought when Gin told everyone she was going to be birthing the chosen one jr Mum would let up on everyone else. Seems she just decided she wants everything all at once.”

“Eloquent, as usual, sweetheart. I reminded her that we have only been dating for three years.”

“Bet that went over well,” Fred said and pointed to the next token box.

“Told me how Percy and George both had proposed within the first year.”

“Technically George and Ang were together for years at school, just no one really knew about it. That’s why I took her to the Yule Ball.”

“Is it really? I never knew that.”

“Course, she was doing me a favor. I had a bit of a sticky situation with a girl from Hufflepuff. She was my partner in Herbology, George and I weren't allowed to be partners anymore, anyway she got it in her head somehow that she was in love with me. Kind of a Romilda Vane situation. She had been hinting pretty forcefully that she wanted to go with me so Ang spoke up, said she was my date and that was that. George took Katie, who was seeing Oliver at the time. We all had a good time together.”

“Sounds like something she would do,” Hermione said with a smile. “That night was such a huge disaster. Ron, being Ron of course. It was nice getting to know Viktor though.”

“I just remember how jealous I was of him that night. Funny, cause I never really remember being very jealous of anyone before that. But here he was, this big goofy looking bloke, a famous quidditch player at 18, a champion of the tournament when I couldn't even pass the age line and he had the prettiest date at the ball.”

“I hardly think I was the prettiest,” Hermione said.

“You were indeed. You know I always had a bit of a soft spot for you, but that night it was like a fog lifted or something. For me and every other wizard in the place, you think im joking, but even Malfoy couldn't think of something mean to say. I don't know, it wasn't just the dress and the hair, you had this confidence about you that was different. I've told you all this before,” Fred said waving his hand in dismissal.

“You haven't actually,” Hermione said in a small voice.

“Really? Oh well, I think the biggest thing was how happy you looked. No furrowed brow, no hunch in your step because of the overstuffed bag you always carried. Just you, smiling, dancing, happy. Bloody sexy thing it was. Ang actually smacked me a time or two for staring.”

“It's funny, because I remember that the best time I’d had that night was when you danced with me. It was some ridiculous fast song, you were flailing about like a lunatic and it was the most fun I’d had in a long time.” They came to another box of tokens.

“Remind me to take you out dancing more often then. This is nice, by the way. We haven't had too many chances to just talk lately. It's been so busy the past few months for both of us.”

“It kinda feels like that night when we first started dating. When we stayed up all night after George’s wedding.”

“Another night you were the prettiest in the room.” Fred winked at her and smiled at the pink that had come into her cheeks he was sure had nothing to do with the chill in the air.

“I think the bride would take offence to that.”

“Nah, Ang looked great of course, but you definitely stole the show. The way your hair was down with the pretty curls all over the place, I liked that.”

“I still can't believe you got away with wearing that magenta muggle tuxedo. I thought your mum was going to explode. It worked somehow though, the orange and magenta everywhere.”

“Well it was George who decorated the shop you know, he’s got a way of making things look like violent color vomit.”

“You're just as bad, with your neon yellow and green.”

“Never boring, love.”

“That's for sure. I have not been bored one day of the last three years. Merlin, your birthday last year?” Hermione laughed at the memory of the prank war that had ensued. They had teamed up against George and Angelina and no one was safe for the entire day.

“We still won, I don't care what George and Ang say… we were the last one’s standing. It was certainly the best prank war we had since first year at hogwarts. Charlie was still there then and he made sure we did things right. Even got Perce to join in with basically all of Gryffindor Tower. It was incredible. Thought Minnie was going to burst a blood vessel by the end of the day, but Dumbledore joined in too. He’s the one who started the food fight at dinner.” Fred looked more than a bit proud of himself.

“I can honestly say I’m not even a little surprised,” Hermione said as they came to the next token box.

“How many tokens is that love? Five? There’s a platform right over there. You can climb up and reorient yourself. I’ll even look away so you can check the map you hid in your pocket if you’d like,” Fred said, smiling at the glare she sent him.

“That is precisely why I never hide your gifts at my flat, you see everything,” Hermione huffed as she began climbing the stairs of the platform. Once up there, she swallowed the nauseous feeling in her stomach and looked around. “It’s beautiful up here, you should come take a look.”

“I’m right here,” Fred said right next to her ear making Hermione jump at his unexpected closeness. “Easy there, I got you.”

“Right, well uhmm, lets see here,” Hermione sputtered as the height and his cologne played with her senses. She pulled out the map to give herself something to do with her hands. How could he affect her so much after all this time.

Fred wrapped his arms around her and held the map in front of the two of them. Looking around he quickly picked out their position and pointed it out. “So, we are here, and we came from this way. If we head in this direction we will run into a few more boxes.”

“Excellent,” Hermione squeaked out as she squirmed from his arms and carefully made her way down the stairs.

“What’s got you all flustered, love?” Fred asked with a chuckle.

“I don't like heights, you know that,” Hermione muttered heading off in the direction of the next box.

“Bollocks, there's more to it than that,” Fred said bending over to speak in a low voice directly in her ear.

“I haven't a clue what you're going on about. And before you even think about it, no magic remember. You can't go vanishing my knickers again, or make them vibrate, or get warm or disintegrate at random times.” Hermione had started strong but was laughing by the end of her rant.

“Some of my best work right there, but I don’t need magic to get you out of your knickers. Unfortunately for you, I am a man on a mission and I have been promised cider and pastries upon completion of this very serious mission of mine. Sorry love, but your knickers are to stay just where they are for now,” Fred said straightening up to his full height and doing an uncanny impression of Percy.

“You're mental, you know that?” Hermione asked as she walked a bit faster to catch up to him. She passed him and turned her head over her shoulder, “If you want my knickers to stay on, then on they will stay.”

“Wait, like for how long? I was only kidding. Hermione? It was a joke, I swear. Please let me take your knickers off later.”

Fred was getting increasingly louder and Hermione was immensely grateful they were the only ones in the maze. She hoped no one was close enough outside to her Fred shouting. After several minutes of muttered threats from her and declarations of apology from him they continued on the path.

***

“Hey Ben,” Hermione said happily as she and Fred finally made their way out of the corn maze.

“Hey, Mi, yeah he had to go check on something up at the barn. How was the maze?” Ben asked with a friendly smile.

“Just twisty enough I think,” Hermione told him with a wink.

Ben had worked for her uncle for as long as Hermione could remember. He had to be pushing 80 years old and still got up every morning to grumble his way through morning chores. Though in the last few years those chores had gotten significantly easier and fewer in number.

“Noah asked me to give you two a ride up the orchard when you made it out. Jimmy is out on the big tractor just now but I remember how much you loved to ride this old thing,” Ben said pointing to an old fashioned horse drawn carriage.

"I can believe you still have this thing! It's so beautiful," Hermione gushed excitedly. She rushed to the old horse who was waiting for them.

"My lady?" Fred asked as he offered her a hand up in the carriage, smiling warmly.

"What's so funny?" Hermione asked as she settled them under the blanket that was sitting on the bench.

"Not a thing. I just like seeing you like this. It's fun to see all the things you loved before I really knew you," Fred said holding her hand under the blanket.

"All set back there?" Ben called from the front of the carriage.

"Entirely," Hermione called.

The short trip was filled with more than a few stolen kisses and sweet words. As they rode the rich colors of the sunset shone through Fred's hair, making it look as if it'd been set on fire. Hermione could help thinking as she looked at him, smiling contentedly and looking younger than he had in a long time, that she couldn't imagine a better life for herself.


End file.
